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One day, three years ago, 28-year-old Shanyna Isom had an allergic reaction to steroids she'd been given after an asthma attack. The next day, she had a debilitating disease that was eating away her skin--and experts had no idea what the disease was. They still don't know what it is... but they know what it's doing to her.

For some reason, she produces 12 times the number of skin cells per hair follicle. It suffocates her skin--and makes her follicles grow hard fingernails instead of the usual hair (you can see a video with photos here). The disease has been crippling, and she now has to get around using a cane. Luckily, doctors have been able to control her symptoms, if not solve the mystery. Right now, she is the only person in the world with this illness.

And she's facing the bills to prove it. Her in-state insurance only covers some of her medications and the medical treatments she's received locally, but she's had to travel to Johns Hopkins in order to get specialized attention. As a result, she's now a quarter of a million dollars in debt. She's set up a foundation to help defray the cost, and says: "If [my condition] means me dealing with this to help someone else, I'm willing to go through it."